Essays on Synoptic Problem

Findings in the Coloring Exercise

In Synoptic Exercise 1, the color patterns showed that Mark and Luke shared most words. It was surprising that Matthew had most of the unique words, the unique words of Mathews make it appear as the unique source, but since the three gospels are talking about similar accounts, similarities should be more. Synoptic Exercise 1 shows that one Gospel was a source for the other two. The results show that Luke is not sharing much with Matthew. The conventional perception among most religious scholars is that Matthew is the first Gospel, and Mark simplified the account. However, synoptic problem ...

A vast number of similarities exist between the three Synoptic Gospels namely Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In essence, over 88% and 97% of the content in Mark’s Gospel appears in Luke and Matthew, respectively. The Synoptic Gospels contain some similar accounts in the life of Jesus’ ministry. These include: Jesus and Beelzebul (Matthew 12:22-27, Mark 3:20-30, Luke 11:14-28); parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-9, Mark 4:1-9, Luke 8:9-10); the stilling of the storm (Matthew 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-41, Luke 8:22-25); and the rejection at Nazareth (Matthew 13:53-58, Mark 6: 1-6a, Luke 4:16-30). Other similarities include the basic story of ...

The Christian Canon

The Christian Canon is the list of authoritative and inspired books universally accepted by Christians. These canons emerged from prolonged debates and consensus assumed by diverse faiths. Christian believers consider the Christian canon books as inspired by God and express the history of the solid relationship found between God and his people. For example, the Jewish Christian books are not included in the canon together with some other disputed books. In this respect, these books can be non-canonical, apocryphal or deuterocanonical. The division of the Christian canon into the early, Eastern and Western church and those of various Christian ...